My astronomy project:
Astro server and power unit, ver2

Content:

1. Astroserver and powerbox, ver 1.0
2. Astroserver and powerbox, ver 2.0
   1. Introduction to astroserver and power unit ver2
   2. Astroserver
   3. Powerunit
   4. Enclosure box
   5. Power supply
3. Balcony outdoor outlets

Note:
I take no responsibility or liability for what are written here, you use the information on your own risk!

Page II.5: Power supply

I have nowadays two mounts, the EQ6 and the HEQ5 mount. Both of them are sensitive to the voltage that the power supply deliver. With a normal 12 Volt power supply the voltage after some drop in the cables can be too low and the red LED on the mount start blinking. That's an indication to get a power supply that deliver little bit higher voltage. It looks that the mounts are constructed to work together with a car battery and that have a voltage of 13.7 Volts.

The power supply to the right has 13.7 Volts output and can deliver up to 10 Ampere, it's stabilized too. That is what I use at home when I have the equipment on the balcony. But when I'm on travel I would like to have something smaller. The EQ6 with accessories need about 3 Ampere when using a small Raspberry as an astroserver. The HEQ5 a bit less, 2.5 Ampere. I bought a new power supply, it's easy to find 12 Volts adapters. This one can deliver up to 3 Ampere. But when I tried it with my equipment the voltage was too low, at 1.5 Ampere the voltage was only 11.8 Volts, the mount didn't like it and the red LED start to blink.

I have read about this at many places and they say that too low voltage can destroy the driver board in the mount. I must find another power supply, there is one in the same serie as the one to the right. That one also have 13.7 Volts but the current it can deliver is limited to 5 Ampere. It's almost perfect but it's big. It's a bit strange that it's so limited of power supplies to choose from. I could of course have a power supply with variable voltage but then is the risk that the setting can be wrong and all the equipment get destroyed.